Are you a school SLP scheduling therapy for the first time? Or have you been doing this for YEARS and just need a new method to control the madness? Does the thought of having to make a new schedule this year nearly bring you to tears? Then you are in the right place! I’m here to share all my tips and tricks to make scheduling not only easier but more beneficial for the student, you, and the classroom teacher.
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Where to start with speech therapy scheduling?
In my first couple of years in the schools, scheduling seriously stressed me out. I constantly felt guilty for not giving every teacher their perfect time, not creating the most cohesive groups, or constantly changing it based on new students and new referrals.
Now I wish I could tell you that I had the solution to every single one of these problems and I never stressed about them again. But the truth is, I don’t. There is never one way to make every single person happy or to always have the perfect therapy group; however, I do have some tricks that I’ve learned along the way that make it so much easier and less stressful. And guess what? I actually look forward to making my schedule every year! Maybe that makes me a little strange, but I’m ok with that. To me, it’s like putting a puzzle together and I get a little rush out of making all the little pieces fit together.
To learn more about me and my journey as a school SLP click here.
A Little Background About My Unique SLP Schedule & Setting
I should preface this with a little information about my school setting because I know they are all a little different. I work full-time in a pretty large elementary school with at least one other full-time SLP. Not only do we share the caseload, we also share a therapy space. While I know this may not be ideal for everyone, we have used it to our advantage. Because our school is so large, we have never been able to split caseloads by grade level (due to school master schedules and large numbers of students in each grade) so we’ve always had some students in every grade, K-5. Once we started sharing a room, we also started scheduling together so that we can accommodate more students from the same class(es) at the same time. This prevents teachers from having multiple speech times for their classroom and helps us group students together more effectively.
Here is an example:
Mrs. A and Mrs. B, both third grade ESE inclusion teachers with similar daily schedules and a heavy caseload of speech and/or language students in each of their classes.
This is one way we may schedule their students:
With this schedule, both Mrs. A and B have only one speech time (9:30) that ALL of their students have speech. Half come Mon/Tues and the other half come Thurs/Fri. So much easier for the teachers and students to remember + fewer distractions and interruptions. And we get to group students based on goals with 2 different language-only groups and 2 different speech-only groups. Makes therapy planning SO much easier.
Importance of a School Master Schedule for School SLP Scheduling
The first step (after getting your caseload list and teacher/class lists) in this process is to get a school master schedule. If your school doesn’t have one big pretty, color-coded master, it’s totally fine (mine doesn’t always either). You can put together your own in just a few easy steps.
Key school SLP scheduling materials you will need:
- Special area times
- Lunch times
- Recess times (if your school schedules these times)
- A grade-level schedule for each grade*
*For these schedules I email the grade level leader(s) for a general schedule that most of them follow. (Some grades may have 2 different schedules based on locations/team-teaching/etc or there may occasionally be one teacher who differs slightly, but the grade-level chair can usually get me that information).
Getting a master grade-level schedule from teachers is essential to this process. Not only does it give a teacher a say in their times, but it also allows you to easily group kids together from different classes. This also puts some accountability on them while taking some of the pressure off of you. For example, if later in the year an issue comes up in the schedule (child says they’re missing math, the teacher says it’s not a good time, etc.) you have documentation that you used the schedule they gave to you and didn’t just pick a time willy-nilly. Now obviously things change and compromises need to be made, but I’ve noticed this has helped me stick to my planned schedules with fewer re-arrangements needed.
Making your own Master Speech Therapy Schedule
Once I have all of the school and grade level master schedules, I make my own master schedule of the best times for each grade level. These are the times that teachers/grade levels have requested when sharing their schedules, times right before/after a transition to reduce interruptions to learning, or the only times available that prevent pulling from key instruction or mandatory recess. These factors are critical for school SLP scheduling.
This is what my initial rough draft looks like:
This master schedule has become a staple in our school as I now share it with our MTSS team and other therapists so that teachers have fewer interruptions to precious instructional time. Win – Win – Win!
SLP Schedule Template FREEBIE
Need a place to start? I got you covered! Click here to gain access to my Free Resource Library and download my fully editable weekly schedule. School SLP scheduling does not have to be stressful anymore!
Speech Therapy Schedule Template
I love keeping my speech therapy schedule template saved in my google drive so I can easily update it as needed (we all know how often that schedule changes)! I keep printed copies (one per week) to keep track of attendance and my caseload. We have to report our rosters twice a year for funding, so this makes it easy for me to see who exactly was on my schedule for that week in the school. This is especially important for the beginning of the year roster verification as it can be hard to remember that far back. We also typically have so many new additions during that time of year that it can be hard to keep track of who was placed when.
Building in time for a Variety of Service Delivery Models with School SLP Sceduling
As you can see in my sample schedule, I have a lot of different types and sizes of groups. It is important to take into account the various service delivery models you will be utilizing for your caseload. I usually have many groups that are seen twice a week for 30 minutes each. This makes up most of my schedule. But I also see kids in a “5-minute kid” model for articulation daily. I have some groups that come 3 or 4 days because of the need for more frequent services. Some of my students are seen just once a week (e.g., in a fluency or social skills group). I also push-in to our full-time ESE classroom.
One of my strategies for making this process of including all the different models a little easier is scheduling my students in the full-time room (who typically have more services) first so I can work with the teacher and make our schedules together (she typically sees pull-out students as well as her students who she has full-time). I block out their times first. Then I put in my groups seen 3-4 times a week (e.g., students who have apraxia or severe phonological delays) so that they have the same time all week. Then I schedule everyone else usually leaving the once-a-weekers for last because they are a little bit easier to fit into any open slots.
For more information about different service delivery models, check out this article from ASHA:
School-Based Service Delivery Models – ASHA
Speech Therapy Scheduling Template Below
Here is an example of my sample therapy schedule. I’ve also included a link to grab your free speech therapy scheduling template from my free resource library.
Speech Therapy Schedule for Teachers
I don’t think I can stress enough the importance of working with and alongside your teachers to make your speech therapy schedule. Most teachers I know are very protective of their instruction time (as they well should be). Working with them, getting their input, and respecting their time and opinions will get you so much further than setting up walls and boundaries. They (like the rest of us) have a lot on their plates. We need to be there to support them and their (our) students so that we can work together.
Tips for Sharing your Schedule with Teachers
Here are some ways you can share the speech schedule with your teachers, I usually do a combination of these two:
- sharing a google doc for each grade
- making printed, individual lists for each teacher
I like to share the grade level google doc with teachers to make their grade-level planning a little easier and so they can see how many students in their grade level have speech services – to support why it may be more difficult to make changes later on. The google doc includes the speech time(s) and days and lists the students (first name only) who come at that time, organized by class. Because both SLPs in the school share all of the classrooms, this gives teachers one place to find all of their students and their times, even if they are seen by different therapists.
I also make printed lists for individual teachers to post in their classrooms. These are typically a little bit cuter (because why not?) with some extra room in case new students are added. These are helpful for paras in the room to have quick access to the schedule, a visual reminder for teachers and students (because we all forget), and especially for substitute teachers.
Speech Therapy Weekly Schedule Template for Teachers below
Here is a link to download my free speech therapy weekly schedule template for teachers:
More Ideas and Information Related to School SLP Scheduling You Might Find Helpful:
School-Based Service Delivery Models – ASHA
More Scheduling Tips from the Creative Speech Lab
How to Make a Schedule by The Speech Bubble SLP
References:
Nippold, M.(2012). Different service delivery models for different communication disorders. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 43, 117–120.
Pulled from: School-Based Service Delivery Models – ASHA
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I hope you found some of these school SLP scheduling ideas helpful and can use one or more in your therapy room this school year. Please leave a comment or shoot me an email if you want to share some of your favorite school SLP scheduling hacks!
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